


On a Chemical Level

by Sanoiro



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Heartfelt, Set at the last minutes of 2x18
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-11-12 13:05:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11162448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanoiro/pseuds/Sanoiro
Summary: Linda asks a question and a favour. Chloe replies on a chemical level.





	On a Chemical Level

**Author's Note:**

> My usual one-shot. Something weird, something touchy, something absurd.
> 
> Now finally edited to the best of my sleep-deprived ability (12/06/2017).

 

* * *

 

**On a Chemical Level**

****

 

  

A shiver ran down her spine and taking a big breath her guts twisted at the first whiff of the stifling antiseptic. Picking up the pace her boots clicked on the well-polished tiles leaving behind a light trail of dry mud. Grimacing at the uncomfortable feeling of the sand creeping within her toes, despite the thin sock barrier, she opted to take the elevator. The announcing arrival of the cabin and the creaking doors opening barely concealed the heavy steps echoing from the stairway.  
  
Using her index’s knuckle to select the floor she caught herself before she rested heavily on the seemingly clean walls of the elevator cabin. Humming absently along with the soft tune coming from the speakers she tried to analyse again the events of the day. As always when Lucifer was involved very few things actually did make sense.  
  
Since his two week break from her and the Loss Angeles, he was different. Distant and yet desperate to hold on from something. He had been erratic to a point Chloe had believed that his stay in the mental hospital would actually be beneficial. Whatever it was that troubled him, it was taking him apart piece by piece right in front of her eyes. She had noticed his rigid back setting a wall between them whenever she got too close, his shoulders tensing forcing him to stay grounded in his spot when she sensed he wanted to flee. Lucifer was keeping his distance while he still held a connecting thread between them, stubbornly refusing to let it go.  
  
The ringing of the elevator, so similar to the one in a certain penthouse broke her drifting thoughts when the metallic doors slide open. The corridor was deserted exactly like she would have expected at this hour. The soft whooshing sounds coming from different rooms, several with wide windows with closed blinds, told her of the health severity of each occupant. Counting the room numbers, she found the one she was looking for with the shades lifted and the door slightly open. Knocking the metallic frame of the door gently, she immediately had the attention of the woman lying on the bed.  
  
“Hey…” Chloe greeted Linda. She was worse than she expected the Doctor to be, much worse than Maze had implied her to have been in the first place.   
  
Resting on the light blue sheets, Linda had a deathly pale complexion with none of her usual vivid makeup to enhance all her sharp features. A large bandage was set on her neck and her right arm, while Chloe could detect several others cushioning her body from underneath the cotton textile, she was carefully tucked with. Her horrid state though did not prevent Linda from giving her a wide smile.  
  
“Last time we met our roles were reversed.” Linda chuckled wincing at the pressure the action put on her obviously injured midsection, which the woman cradled protectively with her left hand.  
  
“I didn’t know you… Maze called me. What happened?” Chloe asked taking a seat next to the bed.  
  
“A patient’s mother wanted _more_ information than _I_ was willing to give.” Linda replied biting her upper lip and looking at a random painting on the wall to her left.  
  
Chloe could see the agitation on the woman’s fingers twisting and pulling the sheets around her fists. Studying Linda up close, she observed now clearly the pale skin and the crooked placed glasses. The position of the glasses didn’t help, but Chloe could see the woman’s eyes darting around, suddenly uncomfortable at her presence she had welcomed just seconds ego.  
  
“I’ll not ask anything else. Not tonight. Promise. “ Chloe soothed her and hesitantly reached for Linda’s glasses before taking permission to set them better on her nose and ears.  
  
A buzzing startled both women making Linda laugh at how jumpy she had become all of the sudden. Chloe ignoring the vibration in her coat’s pocket she turned her attention to the older woman and grinning she shook her head in amusement.  
  
“Detective… Chloe… A favour.” Linda almost pleaded grasping Chloe’s hand unexpectedly in hers and tightened her cold sweaty fingers around it. The Doctor’s bandaged arm held a strength aiming clearly for Chloe to take notice.  
  
“As I said I’ll not ask any questions, Dr Martin.” Chloe reassured her with a pacifying smile.  
  
“It’s Linda. I have a question and then… How do you feel about _him_?” Linda asked her voice cracking due to the dryness of her throat.  
  
“Doctor. Is that _his_ question?” She demanded looking around, half expecting to find Lucifer hiding in a corner childishly scheming as always.  
  
“Please, it’s _mine_ , and I need to know this. Do you think he is perfect? Is there any unexplained _pull_?” The Doctor pressured, her voice trying to keep the right pace with her much-needed oxygen nose inhales.  
  
“You have slept with him; you know how it is.” Chloe shifted uncomfortably and tried to take her hand away only to be pulled closer by Linda.  
  
“Is that all? He is good at that, but is there anything else?” Linda asked with a desperate edge in her voice.  
  
“Linda… If you want him-” Chloe swallowed with some difficulty but plastered a difficult rise on her lips.  
  
“He is my friend. _Please_ …” Linda begged wheezing this time the last word.  
  
“At first he was an attractive but also insufferable man. Would I have liked a go? Yes. Did I act on that? No.” She admitted watching the woman’s eyes soften.  
  
“Lucifer is everything I should have steered away from, and yet he is a _good_ man. He makes _mistakes_ and has _faults_ that are damn hard to forgive but… Although I want to murder him, I also want to protect him.” Chloe rushed with Linda’s request never touching anything deeper than what she had too.  
  
“Chloe, do your feelings strike you as odd? Misplaced? Perhaps even impossible to be there but they still are?” Linda inquired in a deeper voice breaking Chloe’s resolve to keep certain things unsaid. Bowing her head, she exhaled with some difficulty.  
  
“Linda, I might never understand him or why I feel the way I do most of the time…” Rubbing Linda’s fingers Chloe’s eyes turned glassy realising what the woman was asking from her.  
  
“Oh… I guess-“ The struggled words escaping Linda and her loosening fingers on Chloe’s hand, instinctively had Chloe tightening hers around and holding them in place this time around.  
  
“But everything I have ever felt was because of all the good, the bad and the peculiar moments we have shared. There is no emotion which is not based on his actions regardless of whether they were exhilarating, embarrassing or downright painful-”   
  
“You are babbling” Linda accused playfully but now more relaxed than Chloe had seen her since she had requested for a favour.  
  
“I tend to do that with Lucifer.” She laughed along with Linda.  
  
“That’s Lucifer for you.” Linda put it simply.  
  
“So it’s time to go, I have Trixie tonight and-“ Chloe made an attempt to rise from her seat before Linda untangled her fingers from hers and tapped her forearm.  
  
“He is a _good_ man.  When you understand, remember that.” Linda pleaded for the second time that evening.  
  
“That was the favour? You have my word that I don’t need to do that as a favour to you. I’m _already_ there.” Chloe reassured her and unwrinkled the sheets around the woman.  
  
“Chloe, he is in _pain_ and carries an immense amount of heartbreak. Do me a favour and never forget that this goes far deeper and it’s now killing him. He needs someone to catch him when it’s over.” Linda told her cryptically and then closed her eyes signalling the end of their conversation.  
  
The woman was clearly exhausted. Chloe removing the glasses, placed them on the side table and got out of the room quietly. Looking back to Linda on the bed, she wondered what kind of secrets and issues that woman had dealt with during her sessions with Lucifer. Yet they were both right. They both knew who Lucifer really was. A good man, worthy of being redeemed and salvaged even in his darkest hours. She hoped her head and her heart remembered that when a new unpredictable moment struck on her path where Lucifer was concerned.  
  
The itchy sensation the sand was causing on her flesh within her shoes returned with every step towards the elevator. Using her knuckle again to summon the cabin on the fourth floor, she took out her phone to arrange Trixie’s pick up from Dan. A lone missed call was waiting for her which had passed directly to her voicemail from the ‘On a Chemical Level'.  
  
Pressing the asterisk to hear the voicemail he had left her, Lucifer’s voice carried through the line as smoothly as always yet with just a hint of wariness, she couldn’t really place.

 _"Detective._   _Hello, it's me._   _Lucifer..."_

 

**The End**

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> I'll not write a wing-fic. It's not my thing. My co-authored story is a completely different matter. 
> 
> Also while writing a theory/speculation on Tumblr l had a fic idea but I don't have the time to write it at the moment. It was about how Maze was behind Lucifer's kidnapping, the wings and the desert. By the way, do search Amboy Crate. You will be surprised. If you want to know more just check my theories on Tumblr... 
> 
> Have a nice Sunday and hopefully I'll see you in a couple of days with the next chapter of AGN. You know once the fandom is a bit quieter and perhaps wing-free?


End file.
